Eye of the Tiger
by Adrelinen
Summary: Blake and Yang go to watch some of the worlds top Hunters and Huntresses in exhibition fights, and it turns out that Blake knows one of the fighters.


Yang pulled Blake through the crowd, scanning for her sister or Weiss, but it was hopeless, the crowd was too tight, and if they waited any longer they'd never get a good place to watch the fight. Vale's public arena was jam packed with people coming to watch the fights. Qualified hunters from all over were coming The announcer was already hyping up the first match of the day,  
"The first two fighters in today's demonstration are Mallow Opera, heir to Orchestra Dust and Portland Vermilion, the first Faunus to become a State Huntsman!"  
"Vermilion!?" Blake half shouted, eyes widening in shock, running to the railing overlooking the arena. Yang chased after her, instantly curious about the person who could cause such a reaction in RWBY's most reticent member. In the arena, the two fighters stood across from each other, carefully reading each other as they waited for an opening. One was a tall tiger faunus, wide shouldered and thin waisted, he stepped carefully as though the sound of his footsteps would inadvertently startle his opponent. His dark eyes flicked constantly, darting around, trying to take in as much information as possible, always returning to meet his opponent's before twitching away. His pointed feline ears rotated like electric fans in hot room, scanning constantly.

Despite this, he seemed perfectly calm, his fan like weapon held loosely in front of him, the wide, pendulum like blade swaying slowly.  
The hunter across from him seemed almost childlike in comparison, small as a twelve year old, and sickly thin. His blonde hair was tied back in a tight braid, reaching a few inches past his shoulders. He seemed utterly defenseless, carrying only a silver flute and steel boots, inlaid with excessively intricate designs. Surely this couldn't be a fair fight?  
Yang turned to Blake to say as much, but Blake cut her off before she had even opened her mouth.  
"Just watch, you won't want to miss any of this,"  
Yang's attention returned to the fight just in time to see the Faunus charge forward, swinging his odd weapon with almost unbelievable speed, a burst of bright yellow fire shooting from hole hidden in the weapon's design. Yet despite his lightning charge, his opponent had just enough time to lift the flute to his lips. A single note split the air, and the flames dissipated, leaving the Faunus' spear to be deflected by a sharp kick.

From that point on the fight dissolved into nothing more than orange and purple blurs, haunting music counterpointed by crashes and clangs as blade met boot over and over. Despite the smaller hunter's frame, he was clearly a seasoned fighter, expertly deflecting blows, rather than meeting them head on. However, even with his surprising skill and apparent ability to negate dust, he was clearly outclassed by the Faunus. The tiger pushed harder and harder, never giving an inch of ground, never giving his opponent a single chance to attack.  
Yang's mouth started to drop further and further as she watched the two fight, a deadly dance as the two were surrounded by a shining ephemeral web of steel. She didn't even notice when the melody began to overlay itself, two distinct lines of music where there had only been one before. But suddenly the purple fighter's boots began to glow, bright white light illuminating the spiraling designs.  
And then the purple fighter was gone, steel cutting through the wisps of shadow and light. Instantly the faunus turned, swinging his fan like spear with a wide arc. The purple fight reappeared with a resounding crash as his boot was stopped midair. In the split second that he was stationary, Yang saw that he had almost been transformed by roiling power. His face looked alien, eyes glowing with purple tinged energy, his skin seemed paper thin, stretched thin over a supernova. Energy flowed off of him in heavy waves, causing the air to waver with it's intensity.  
And then he was gone.

The Tiger merely smiled, rumbling deep in his throat. The teeth he revealed flashed white as he stuck his weapon into the ground, blade up. He then crouched low, arms held in a stance Yang didn't recognize. But the message was clear, come at me bro.  
If Yang had barely been able to follow the fight before, she didn't know how she kept up at all now. Mr. Tiger was spinning, arms flying so fast he appeared to have three of each, each one holding at bay the barest hint of an opponent. The Flutist wasn't even a blur to Yang's eyes anymore, he was a whisper as his music crescendo. The ground exploded as pillars of energy burst up from underneath, each one just a second behind the Tiger as he weaved, flipped and rolled, still blocking every kick from his ethereal opponent, and he was smiling as he did so.

Suddenly everything was still, the two were at eye level. They seemed frozen in time as the Flutist's eyes widened imperceptibly. Tiger had his open palm raised, his semblance manifesting as black energy, seeming almost solid as it coalesced in his palm. In slow motion his arm began rocketing towards his opponents unprotected chest. With no time to react the Flutist had to watch as the Tiger's hand met his chest with a soft thump.

A second passed, confusion ran through the audience. The fighters momentum ran out and they began falling. Then it happened.

An almighty roar of power as the true brunt of energy slammed into the Flutist, ramming him into the ground with enough force to buckle the entire floor of the arena, cracks and waves running across the surface. Clouds of dust obscured the arena for a minute, but from the silence it was obvious, the Flutist was defeated.  
The roar began low, but soon the floor was shaking with the sound of the crowd cheering. Again surprising Yang, Blake was heartily joining in. Once the dust and the crowd had died down Yang grabbed Blake, holding the still screaming woman.  
"I'm guessing Vermilion won?" Yang asked, laughing at her friends infectious happiness, "Who is he anyway?"

"Vermilion's my cousin, we grew up together. Come on you've got to meet him!"


End file.
